China in Africa

YANG Jun and colleagues have developed a methanol fuel cell based on selective electrocatalysis using core-shell-shell Au@Ag2S@Pt nanocomposites at the anode and core-shell Au@Pd nanoparticles at the cathode. This trick prevented undesired crossover of methanol from the anode through the cathode through the polymer electrolyte membrane and allowed the use of 10 – 15 M methanol concentration. A maximum power density of 89.7 mW cm was obtained.

CAS news release, July 3, 2017

The law is expected to start a new era for TCM. Key issues are standardization, GMP issues for manufacturing and strict legal supervision, which is expected to greatly reduce the number of TCM manufacturers and lead to larger industrial clusters with higher standards. At the research end, the combination of TCM with personalized medicine and the availability of big data is expected to lead to a more rational interpretation of phytopharmaceutical activity. Finally, TCM prescriptions will be pushed to share 30 % of all prescribed drugs in Chinese hospitals by the end of “135”.

China Bio news release, July 1, 2017

The groups of JIANG Yijun and WU Pingwei have crosslinked paper and regenerated cellulose to a composite (RCP) which showed unexpected mechanical strength at dry (tensile strength: 76 MPa, toughness at break: 7 MJ/m-1) and wet conditions (tensile strength: 13 MPa, toughness at break: 0.75 MJ/m-1), much higher than original paper. The composite had good barrier properties for water and oxygen, and exhibited shape retention when wetted with water.

China Bio news release, June 30, 2017

The group of Fang XU has used a cellulose and pectinase cocktail to produce fermentable sugars from hydrothermally treated potato pulp, an important crop in China. They produced D-gluconic acid in high yields from this carbon source using Gluconobacter oxidans DSM 2003. Transformation of glucose to gluconic acid was 94,4 %, and productivity was about 4 g/L/h

China Bio news release, June 30, 2017

The observatory operates a ground-based high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometer and measures the amount of carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide and other trace gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. The station is part of an international network which validates satellite data, such as those from greenhouse gases observing satellite (GOSAT, Japan), Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2, USA), and the Chinese Carbon Dioxide Observation Satellite (TANSAT).

CAS news release, June 30, 2017

The association has just released A2β-casein gene screening technology which allows to select for this trait in cow breeding. A2β-casein is closest o breast milk. It is easy to be digested and absorbed by the body, and has a better somatosensory quality. Modern dairy cows produce mostly A1β casein, which is of less quality; A2 β-casein content is less than 1 %. China Dairy Association and partners have established a dairy cow genetic screening system and obtained 600 cows out of 80,000 dairy cows which produce mostly A2 β-casein. They are now separately bred on milk farms, in view of arriving at a high-end pure milk for infant formula.

China Bio news release, June 29, 2017

A joint study of 2 institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the People’s Liberation Army and a US group based on data on ocean heat content collected since 1970 show that oceans have warmed consistently. Below 100-m depth in the Atlantic and Southern Ocean, and between 100-300m depth in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, there was statistically significant warming during 1998 – 2012, contributing to global ocean warming where more than 90% of the earth’s energy imbalance in the climate system is sequestered.

China Bio news release, June 29, 2017

The services will include pre-clinical disease prevention, registration, mobile payment, report view, electronic prescription, drug sales distribution, follow-ups, rehabilitation guidance, etc. The concept is to help physical hospital out of geographical distance restrictions, greatly expand their service radius, and educate patients. Jingdong Pharmaceutical has already established self-employed retail pharmacies where a patient can shop from prescription drugs or convenience drugs.

CAS news release, June 29, 2017

“Janus particles” are defined by controllable topological and chemical anisotropy. In their study, Shutao WANG and colleagues chose a typical oil-in-water emulsion system, styrene (St) and divinyl benzene (DVB) in water emulsion, into which hydrophilic monomer (such as, acrylic acid (AA) or acrylamide (AM) et al. ) were introduced as anchoring molecules. The polymerization was initially designed to occur inside the oil droplet. It turned out, however,
that a particle nucleus produced inside of oil droplts would move toward the oil/water interface. As a result, the hydrophilic anchoring monomers in the external water phase could contact the particle nucleus and be initiated to polymerize, triggering interfacial anchoring polymerization.  Thus, preferential copolymerization of AA, St and DVB occurred along the interface in two directions, resulting in the formation of crescent-moon shaped Janus particles.

CAS news release, June 28, 2017

The team from CAS and Peking University observed that oxime-carbamate structures were reversible at about 100 °C through oxime-enabled transcarbamoylation via a thermally dissociative mechanism. Using this observation, they produced polyurethane-like poly(oxime-urethanes) (POUs) by uncatalyzed polyaddition of multifunctional oximes and hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) at ambient temperature. Kinetics studies showed almost complete polymerization (∼99% conversion) in 3 h at 30 °C using dichloromethane (DCM) as solvent. The linear POUs produced had comparable molecular weights as polyurethanes produced by addition of catalyst.

China Bio news release, June 28, 2017

The group of YANG Sheng at CAS SIBS Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology developed a a Francisella novicida CRISPR-Cpf1-based genome-editing method for C. glutamicum. Using CRISPR-Cpf1, combined with single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) recombineering, small changes could be precisely introduced into the bacterial genome at efficiencies of 86–100%. Using this method, each round of iterative metabolic engineering was achieved in as little as 3 days.

China Bio news release, June 28, 2017

CAS QIBEBT, Nankai University and others have reached a milestone in developing new energy plants which provide high yields of biomass on marginal land. Among over 30 plants studied, Miscanthus, Caragana and Amaranthus proved best suited and were planted on five test fields of marginal lands such as beaches, arid, semi-arid and saline locations. After harvest, they were studied for ethanol/methane production, low-condensed biodiesel and synthetic lubricants, and biogas. Project leader is ZHOU Gongke of CAS QIBEBT.

China Industrial Biotechnology News, June 26, 2017

According to LI Yu, Chinese Academy of Engineering, China in 2015 produced over 34 million tons of edible fungi in about 600 factories, with a value of some 3 billion USD. Top varieties are Flammulina velutipes (Enokitake), Pleurotus eryngii (king trumpet mushroom) and Hypsizygus tessellatus (crab mushroom). While China is among the world’s earliest countries to recognize and use edible fungi, as documented in Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic” and the “Book of Rites”, most of industrially produced fungal species have been imported, mostly from Japan, and have not been bred in China.”

China Bio news release, June 26, 2017

The high-tech zones are considered a major engine to China’s economic growth. By 2016, close to 4,300 spaces provided services for more than 120,000 enterprises, attracting investment of 5.5 billion yuan, and operating revenues were 27.9 trillion yuan (4 trillion U.S. dollars).

CAS news release, June 1, 2017

The smart insulin patch” consists of hundreds of microneedles which store insulin and contain glucose sensors. When the blood glucose level is too high, the microneedles will automatically release insulin, resulting in a hypoglycemic effect. The device was invented by Gu Zhen at the University of North Carolina who founded Zenomics in 2015. Microport Scientific has arranged a lead investment of 5.8 mill USD to bring this technology to Greater China.”

China Bio news release, June 23, 2017